sawdust horse manure
Kevin Smyth (ab210@seorf.ohiou.edu)
Sat, 7 Nov 1998 18:53:25 -0500 (EST)
Dear Sanet - I'm the guy who posted the question about using
manure/sawdust in our vegetable plots here in S.E. Ohio several weeks
ago, which ignited an ongoing discussion on the subject of synthetic vs
"natural" N in the garden and so on. We planted garlic today and mulched
it with about three inches of the famous sawdust-horse manure. As we were
shoveling the stuff from the pile into the truck we noticed that the
interior of the pile was heating up and turning white. It was steaming
noticeably, although it was about 65 degrees out. My friend said that
meant there was a lot of urine in the stuff, which was contributing a lot
of N to the mix. He said there was probably TOO MUCH N in the pile and
warned me to be careful with it in the garden, lest I "burn" young plants
with it. Whaddya make of that? I should mention that this pile is about
four feet high, eight feet wide, and forty feet long. I had it delivered
by dumptruck about three weeks ago. Also, my friend said that horse
bedding is routinely sprayed with pesticide to control flies. Anybody got
any info or hunches on that?
And here is another question for the soil experts: what effect do you
suppose flame weeding has on soil life? We purchased such a device last
spring and used it some this past season. It has four burners underneath a
sheet metal cowl attached to a wheel. The operator wears a back pack with
a 20# tank in it and pushes this rig along like a vacuum cleaner. It puts
out a tremendous amount of heat and does a real nice job on young lamb's
quarters and ragweed and pigweed and so on, but I wonder what its doing to
beneficial soil organisms like Azotobacter and Azospirillium. Anybody out
there aware of any research on this? I also accept hunches as well as
factional ravings.
Sincerely,
Kevin Smyth
Far Corner Farm
ab210@seorf.ohiou.edu
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